


I'd have you anytime

by Anonymous



Category: That '70s Show
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:28:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23923096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: What if Jackie after panicking in her show, gave up? And what if she made an unnatural friendship? Basically a fix it of season 7.
Relationships: Eric Forman/Donna Pinciotti, Jackie Burkhart/Steven Hyde
Comments: 21
Kudos: 61
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Isn't it a pity

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I created this fanfic but I do not own the characters! Just a reminder. I hope you all enjoyed it. Please, don't be mean to me in the comments. :)

"I freaked out" She hated how much her voice cracked. She wanted to cry on Steven's shoulder and for a moment she was glad he wasn't in the basement or else she might throw herself at him, like she always did.

"The cameras turn on, and I realized I'm completely alone on Tv and in real life." She felted that way since her dad was arrested and her mom vanished. At least she had Steven, but not anymore. Donna wasn't treating her well and so what? She deserved for all the things she said to her, that she didn't mean it. She sighed when Donna looked around, silently asking for help. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.” She looked at Eric, he seemed like he wanted to say something, but not in front of everyone. She heard a scissor sound and looked back, Angie with a piece of her hair. She felt like she was going to faint.

“Oh my god!” She yelled and got out of the basement, almost running. She bumped into Hyde right away and her heart stopped. They haven't talked a lot especially alone since the breakup. He was angry, she could tell by the way his lips were curved. She felt several tears fall from her chin.

“Did Fez tried something on you?” His hand was almost prepared to punch someone. If she wasn’t so sad she would smile. Her heart insisted on giving her false hope that he did love her and wanted to be with her, but she quietly dismissed that thought.

“N-no. Angie c-cut my hair.” His face softened, and he sighed before talking.

“Too bad. Can’t punch girls.” She nodded, and feeling the end of the conversation she quietly passed by him. “Hey, Jackie.” She turned around, while her hand cleaned the tears that insisted on falling. “I…I’m sorry for the show.” She nodded again, great. Now even Steven was pitying her, she felt bad that he had to see that. That feeling in her heart came back, thinking he watched her show. “Hm…Fuck.” He said when she began to cry more.

“Sorry.” She turned her back and quickly walked, only to fell his hand on her wrist.

“Jackie, you can do better. You are perfect for Tv. You know that and you don’t need anyone to help you there, you can do this on your own.” His words too sincere for her heart, she wanted to kiss him, tell him she still loved him. But she holds back, and smile slightly.

“Thank you, Steven. Truly.” He smiled at her and she felt almost like a punch on her heart. She always thought that the expression heartbroken was only metaphorical. With Michael she felt her heart speed up, her stomach like it had butterflies but never a pain like this. Never a pain for knowing she wasn’t the one for him. With Steven she became almost accustomed to the sudden pain when he did something. Her smile fell and his too. She turned to go home, her very alone house. She just wanted a bath and a change of clothes, as if she would wash the shame out of her.

When she got home there was a mailman, leaving several letters on her doorstep. She almost smiled with the thought of maybe one of them being her mother.

"Good morning!" He said simply and left, she wished to him the same and desperately opened the letters as if she was a fat girl with chocolate. The first letter was from NYU, she passed. She puzzled look at the letter, not believing it was true. She laughed, jumped up and down and she stopped. She looked around realizing that nobody was there to congratulate her, nobody ever was. She sighed and looked at the other two letters. One was a check of money her mother was sending and the other a postcard from a place from Brazil. She sighed, sat on her doorstep, and looked at the neighborhood. She felt tears fall and didn't mind cleaning that up. She didn't want to get in because nobody was there, so she sat and remembered when all was "perfect."

_She would always wake up with her mother moaning in the middle of the night. She would get up, put some songs on her stereo, and try to sleep. She would wake up early to try to see her father but most times he already left. When he didn't, his eyes were glued at her mother. She would eat Froot Loops in the morning, since she was only eating pink, red, and white foods, it was kind of her's pet peeve. She ate a sandwich ham at lunch and at dinner strawberry yogurt or strawberry's. She felt herself getting thinner and nobody there to care. Not even Michael. Nobody. There were days she would eat just Froot Loops, the sweet taste making her forget of being alone all the time. When Michael left she stopped eating altogether. When she began to "screw around" with Steven things changed._

_"Jacks. '' Steven called her, she looked at him. She felt her eyes burning on her body, she crossed arms. "Are you becoming a junkie?" He said with an angry tone. She already knew they were going to fight._

_"Are you crazy?" She stomps her foot. "Why would you say that?" She got closer to him. He toke his glasses off._

_"Just...Mrs. Forman wanted you to eat breakfast or dinner here, whatever." He cleaned his throat and looked away. She blushed._

_"Was that...because of yesterday?" They were making out and suddenly got so hot, she got so dizzy she didn't even have the strength to tell Steven. She woke up in the living room with Mrs.Forman talking gently to her. She grabbed gently Steven's hands._

_"Of course it is Jackie! You passed out in my arms!" He yelled, she didn't move a muscle. "You are pale as ever and you' were already tiny, you are even more! God." He got away from her and put his glasses on._

_"You care about me..." She told with a smile._

_"Whatever, man." He told and began to prepare something in the kitchen, apparently for both of them._

_She begins to eat again._

* * *

She sat alone in the basement. Gladly Steven wasn’t there but also was nobody. She felt her throat close, her breathing getting quicker. She was always alone, Donna and the others didn’t love her, she realized. Or cared about her. She barely heard Eric entering the room, only noticing when his hand was on her shoulder. 

“Jackie, are you..?” Eric’s calm voice made her jump. Eric was shocked looking at her.

“God Eric! You scared me!” She screamed putting her hands on her face, getting the hair off her eyes. She calmly sat on her spot again.

“Sorry if I interrupted you from fainting.” He chuckled but she didn’t. She seriously wasn’t in the mood. “Look Jackie, I know you feel alone here.” She sat again, Eric at the top of the couch. She huffed, seeming unaffected by the comment. Which was a lie. She is feeling very lonely for the past few days, she began to read books (Ew!) what she already did when she was dating Steven but now nobody knew. The books helped her forget the time, fantasizing about her and Steven being the main characters. “And… don’t tell Donna but I’m feeling…I need… to do something. A trip. Get out of Point Place. For a few days. Mouths perhaps. I know I would have to hear you talk forever but… Since you already finish school… You want to…?” He looked up, like if the answer was there. 

“Date you? Ew Eric!” She told with a disgusted face.

“No! Ew for you too!” He got up imitating her. “I want to run away.” He said after a few minutes, quietly.

“Why not with Donna? Wouldn’t this be the perfect road trip for you guys…” She fakes throw up. He gives her a little smile but quickly disappears. "And she probably will get mad at you, especially since it is me." She didn't know if Donna was actually jealous of Jackie and Eric together as friends, since that never happened often. 

“I don’t know actually.” He sat up again, playing with his fingers. She could tell he was nervous and unsure. “I think she would try to make me come back. And I really, **really** , don’t want to come back early." She began to think. Wasn't she feeling alone here? Hadn't she ruined her show? What was there to lose? Her parents weren't home, nobody would expect her to go back. And Eric was a good company, better than Michael. "And I know you and me, never actually liked each other and sometimes I'm a jerk to you and you to me but... I don't know. I feel we both need this." She nodded with a frown. He was right, she didn't like to admit it but he was.

“I’ll do it.” Jackie said after a few minutes of silence. She surprised herself by saying this especially with Eric.

“Really?” He looked surprised too, but soon he smiled and patted her back.

“Being honest? I would leave right now. I can’t handle any more of this, all the time.” Her tone was almost a whisper.

“I’ll pack my things. We leave tomorrow morning.” Eric said while going upstairs. "I need to do something with my life." He said and Jackie nodded not understanding correctly why he said this sentence all of a sudden, but understating the feeling.

“I understand. Just leave a note for Donna and your mother.” Jackie would never tell this to anyone but she was almost jealous of Eric and Steven for having Kitty as a mother. She wouldn't forgive Eric if he didn't let some kind of warning to her. And Donna was pissed off when she was left at the altar without a word, so she figured it out he owned AT LEAST a letter to her. She was actually feeling guilty about Donna, Eric leaving her again?

“Yeah… I will. ” Eric said with a confused look. She hated when people would weirdly look at her when she was nice and thoughtful "And you...?" He was referring to Steven. She sighed.

“I don’t have anyone to leave a letter.” With that she smiled sadly and left the basement. She lied, she did want to leave a letter to someone, and she didn’t know what to say though. She left and went home. She didn't return any calls knowing it would be Donna asking why wasn't she there for her show. She didn't care enough, she just packed her bags, and went to sleep.

The letter:

_Steven, I just wanted to say… I don’t want you to feel guilty. I’m not going on this trip with (Ew!) Eric, for any other reason besides needing a time far away from all the things. Both I and Eric need that. And I’m not leaving because of our break up. I promise to go to a place with lots of sun to get tanned! I just didn’t want to leave anything unclear with you. Don’t drive without your seat belt, try to not smoke so much, and take care of Mrs. Forman. Please don’t be angry with Eric. Please, take care of yourself. Sincerely, Jackie ❤️_

She looked at the letter and frowned. She tried to make clear from the things she said, that she still loved him. She quietly entered his room. It was 5:55 AM, he was sleeping only a few hours, knowing his insomnia problems. He was laying hugging his blanket, similar to what he did to her when they slept together. A quiet song, probably from the 60’s was playing. That was so familiar for her, seeing him like this. Almost every day she would wake him up, he always told the excuse that she was the only person who could wake him up since he was a heavy sleeper, but she knew it was because that way he would wake up less piss off. She left on the desk. She left the room with a sad but exciting feeling.


	2. Whole lotta love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you feel I'm giving way to many 'backstory' to the characters (also, if it is a trigger to you any psychological problems, I feel the need to warn you, probably will have more of them on the story). I think all teenagers have experienced some way any of these things, not saying that Jackie having problems eating, Hyde having self-deprecate thoughts is canon BUT I think it's more realistic. Also, thanks for the comment!! It made my day!

One thing she learned about Eric on this trip was that both of him and she knew how to sing mostly of ABBA’s songs. Half of the trip has been him and her singing and just that. Eric was smart enough to be able to take out the car without making any noise, and they left unnoticed. She felt bad about leaving them without a word, she didn't leave a letter do Donna, just Steven. Would she be mad? Probably not. Maybe, she wouldn't even care. She quickly changed her attention to the song playing on the radio.

“I do, I do, I do!” Both of them sang the song, her window was open the sun was shining directly on her face, but it wasn’t hot. The breeze and smell of woods was calming. They seemed to get so far away from Point Place but not getting close to nowhere, which gave her a weird feeling. Of course, this place would be with her forever even if she didn't want it. 

“So, where are we planning on going?” Eric asked when they pass a billboard about some product for beards. She began to think about places she would always want to go, and suddenly she remembered the NYU letter. With all her thoughts being on the trip she didn't even remember the letter, didn't told anyone either. She smiled proudly, thinking about her achievement. She could tell him to go to New York and she could check it out NYU herself; She didn't even have to tell him about the reason why.

“New York! Oh imagine how many malls are there! How many famous people!” She said clapping her hands and sighing dreamily. "Doesn't John Lennon live there?" She frowned and looked at him. She read once, about John Lennon moving to this big fancy apartment in New York, but she could be wrong. Eric gave her a glance before nodding, she didn't know if it was for himself or to her question.

“Hm… That’s about a day of travel. We need somewhere to stop before going. How about Chicago?” Eric said with a small smile on his face, almost seemed like he was trying to please her. She felt surprised, but she already noticed this on most of the guys, they are different around other boys. Steven was more gentle and sensible when alone with her, Eric seemed to be the same, on other levels, of course.

“Oh! I heard there are waterfalls there!” She remembered her letter to Steven. She needed to, if she went back to Point Place by any chance, look hotter than now, if that was possible. Eric did seem to like the idea since he was grinning like a little kid.

“After we stop there we can go to New York! All right!” Eric said smiling and bumping the air. She giggled by his dorkiness and looked again at the window. The breeze was calming and made the time quickly go by.

After a few hours of ABBA and small talk, they were in Chicago. Since herself, bearly left Point Place, and when she did it was never alone and Eric never leaving Point Place at all, she searched for any place that could give them any information. When her eye caught a huge question mark on top of a structure, she tapped Eric's shoulder.

“Eric! Let’s stop at that… tourist thingy!” She hesitated not knowing how to call. Eric gave her an uninterested look.

“For what?” He stopped at the traffic light and looked at her.

“Well, I wanna know where are the waterfalls" She said with a "duh" expression on her face. She got out of the car seconds after he stopped the car and quickly went over there. A girl was attending, she had long blond curly hair. Her eyes were brown, and she was looking at the window looking like she was very bored.

"Hi! Do you know where is the closest waterfall?" Jackie asked unable to hold her smile. She was so excited about going somewhere new, even if it was with Eric.

"Hm... There is a farm, nearby, who has it. It is great, they have a hotel and everything. Do you need a ride?" The girl, who remedied Jackie of Donna by her body and way to talk, was looking worried at her. 

"No, no. I'm fine. Thanks!" Jackie said and left waving quickly at the girl before leaving, going quickly to the car. 

* * *

When Hyde woke up, he immediately groaned. He looked at the clock: 10:00 AM. He smiled lazily, knowing he could sleep more. His smile slowly fell when he remembered out of nowhere, Jackie's voice. He sighed and for a moment he felt the scent of her perfume in the room, which was crazy. He considered being insane since lately he was worried about her, most of the time. She seemed off, and miss her show last night? Jackie would never do that. His brain slowly began to flood his thoughts with memories, a small grin forming on his face without him noticing.

_''Puddin!'' She would yell opening the door "Everyone already ate! You have to wake up!" He would felt her tiny shape sitting on his bed, her perfume filling the room. "Doll, please. Just five minutes." She would get quiet and he would felt her lips on his, and after in his neck, his cheeks, his shoulders. The touch of her mouth on his skin made himself wake up. His body hot from the touches, and his heart warm when his eyes opened to only see her smile._

"Hyde!" He heard at the door, and he silently cursed. It was Donna's voice. She was knocking on the door frantically. He angrily put on a shirt and opened the door.

"What?" He immediately could see it was something important, since Donna didn't call him so "early" for nothing, her eyes were glassy and her hands lightly shacking. He felt himself stop being angry and began to be anxious.

"Eric... He ran away." She told with a shaky voice. He was confused. Eric? Eric Forman? Who didn't want to break any rules ever? Maybe Forman did learn something from him.

"Really? Huh. Hope he can learn to take care of himself out there." He told and crossed arms. Donna rolls eyes to him.

"He wasn't alone." Oh, he felt a little hurt. He always thought he was the first person that Forman would like to run away with, besides Donna, of course. He probably went with Kelso, so good luck to him. 

"Forman and Kelso? Why everyone who runaways want to go with him?" He couldn't understand the appeal from runaway with a guy who could barely take care of himself in Point Place. 

"No, Hyde. He ran away with Jackie." His heart ached, and he regretted not wearing glasses. He knew Donna could see the confusion on his eyes. He sighed and look down. "What's that?" Donna pointed to something behind him. He turned around, seeing a note on top of his small table. He read the note. Fuck, he knew something was up with Jackie but he never imagined she would run away. 

"Fuck she left a letter. For me." The worst was his heart beating fast. Her words, her scent was in the letter.

_Please take care of yourself._

She knew he had several ways to do self-harm, and she points out a few ones also asking him to stop. He felt angry. She didn't have the fucking right to care about him, when she broke up with him and left him.

"Did it say where they were going?" She asked while trying to reach the letter. He put on his pocket, she gave him an annoyed look.

"No. Just a place to get tanned." He cleared his throat, uncomfortable. He sat on his bed with Donna beside him. He stared blankly at the wall, no thoughts going through his head.

"Hyde, we have to go after them." She told after a few minutes of silence.

"Why?" He honestly didn't know why she wanted this.

 _They both run away from him. Like everyone does, everyone leaves you. Your first love, your childhood friend, and even your mom and father. You're disgusting, worthless you should d-_

"Eric went after me in California. And know I'm going to go after him... To kick his ass." Donna interrupted his thoughts, thankfully. He still wasn't going. Jackie and Eric running away have hurt him badly.

"Do me a favor, do the same with Jackie." He joked and left the room, feeling claustrophobic. Donna unfortunately followed.

"You know... This would be the perfect romantic gesture for you two get together." She said bumping into him, smiling. God, here we go again. He felt that someday he was going to explode. As if it wasn't enough having to see her every fucking day, not being able to admit his feelings to her, of course Donna had to make jokes.

'Well that's a shame because I'm not the romance guy." He said while going to the stairs. He already knew where this was going.

"So you do want to get back with her!?" She asked with a grin and followed him.

"Shut your pie hole!" He groaned and decide since his morning was shit he could at least eat breakfast so he began to go up the stairs.

"Just know I realized how Jackie began to say this to me after I came back from California... interesting huh?" When she ended her sentence he was already upstairs. What a morning he was having.

"Steven. You have to go after that dumbass." Red groaned slightly. He shared the same feeling that Red, he didn't want to deal with it either. I mean, he didn't do anything wrong. He didn't run away but he had to solve this. Something he didn't do or helped them do.

"Why? He didn't tell me anything." He asked while sitting on the table and eating a toast.

"Well I can't just let him all alone out there! Did you see how much he weighs?" Mrs. Forman talked, no laugh followed. She was concerned, he noticed as the table was full of food, and she was cooking more.

"I'm sure Jackie will take care of him." He said, which was kind of true. Jackie was able to take care of herself and was bossy enough to scare some dickheads. 

"Who is going to take care of Jackie?" That sentence coming from Mrs. Forman sent a shiver down his spine. She was tiny, he always knew this. Since she dated Kelso, how he would lift her like it was nothing, how she felt light in his lap, how her wrist was small, how he could pick her up easily. He cleaned his throat.

"Fine." Mrs. Forman clapped and giggled. He felt like shit. But when she hugged him from his back, he felt a little less annoyed about all this.

"Now, any clue where they are going?" The table went quiet. Shit, no clue. Now they both would have to be Nancy Drew over this.


	3. Good old fashioned lover boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm hoping you guys enjoyed this story and everything... Please let me know if you're liking or not! Thanks for everyone that gave kudos anyway. :)

"Are you hungry?" Jackie asked Eric. She was hungry, and she hoped he was too. Jackie would be ashamed of asking to stop just to eat, that would be a fat girl thing.

"Not really." He said without looking at her. She moved uncomfortably on her seat expecting her tummy ache would stop. Steven would always notice this on her, especially because she was never the one with empathy for the others, so when she asked if he was hungry or anything like this, he already knew what she meant.

_"You know, I liked that the wedding was canceled. Never ate so much in an afternoon." They were stepping out of Donna's house going to the Formans. She nodded, hoping she was being natural. He stopped. "You didn't eat any did you?" He crossed his arms._

_"Dang it!" She said and tapped her foot. He always caught her when she missed a meal. "Is not a big deal, Steven. The food isn't that good anyway, y' know it was very cheap. At our wedding --" She was cut off by him grabbing her arm slightly._

_"Go back there, get a piece of a cake. We'll eat on the porch." He continues to stand there, arms crossed._

_"Steveeen." She pouts and puts her bottom lip out. That always worked. Her hands were grabbing on his arms pulling them slightly._

_"Uh-uh. Not going to work this time." He nodded in a 'no'. He was really stubborn sometimes._

_"Please pudding pop." She hugged him, looked up giving the best puppy eyes. He grinned._

_"Go, baby." He said and kissed her forehead. It was the first time he ever won a discussion between them when she used her technique. But she didn't mind. She gladly ate her cake and heard him call her baby._

"Oh, but I'm stopping for gas." He turned at a close and not so horrible gas station.

"I'm grabbing some water."She gladly got out of the car, wanting nothing more than a toast and hot cocoa. When she entered, a blond girl smiled at her.

"Hi! How may I help you?" She had an energy to talking similar to her and Kitty, which made her happy. Made her feel like she was welcome.

"Hi! Hm...I want one toast and a hot chocolate." The girl nodded and she whispered a small thank you. She chooses to sit next to the window. Her food quickly came.

"Is that your brother?" The waitress, the same girl she made her order, asked. She looked over where she was looking. Eric was putting gasoline awkwardly. She frowned.

_Brother?_

She would correct her, but she quickly thought, why tell the truth? This girl would probably never see her again, and she didn't want to tell she is just traveling with a random friend. This was a perfect fake story to not seem weird or whatever.

"Yes, my older brother. I know we don't look alike since I'm very pretty and well, he is... Eric." She didn't felt that bad about lying to this girl, it was a harmless lie, and she did in some weird way, see Eric as a brother, but she wasn't going to tell this part to him although. The waitress laughed. 

"I think you're both cute." Did she just...? She laughed not knowing what to say, and the girl left with a shy smile. She could feel her cheeks hot and her heart beating fast. She quickly distracted herself with the window. 

She was glad it wasn't snowing yet or else she wouldn't have this view. The woods, that she could easily imagine foggy, were very green. The sky beautifully blue, everything seemed perfect. She saw Eric going somewhere, but didn't mind it looking where. After a few seconds, she heard Eric's shaky voice screaming

**don't punch me!**

and she already knew she was going to have to save him. She grunted annoyed, and quickly paid for her food while shoving all food that was left in her mouth, which she knew wasn't ladylike but whatever, she had a scrawny dumbass to save.

"Hey! You both get off him!" She yelled seeing two big guys were standing next to Eric, one was bald and the other very hairy. She made a disgusted face while looking at both.

"More like her!" One of them joked, both of them chuckling.

"It's okay Jackie, I can handle this." Eric told, getting in front of her. She frowned and crossed her arms. "Please don't hit me." He made a supplicant gesture and she rolled eyes.

"Hey, we won't do anything if this little one went with us for a ride." She looked at both motorcycles that were there and gave the best scary look she could give.

"Get bent, dill-hole!" She stomps on his foot hard. Before she knew, the same guy grabbed her by her shoulders, lifting her a few inches from the ground with no problem. Before she could panic, she saw Eric's fist going right into the guy that was grabbing her, making him drop her. She quickly heard voices behind them, about no fight on his property or whatever. The hairy guy, the one that Eric hit, put his hand on his nose, a few drops of blood falling to the floor. The bald one gave them a disturbing look, making her shiver. When she felt Eric's hand on her shoulder, leading her slowly to the car, she began to walk. 

"That was close." She said once they both were inside the car, Eric didn't even think twice about leaving, so they were soon out of the guy's range.

"Yeah, who would have thought? The skinny boy and the princess can defend themselves!" She chuckled and looked away. Steven would always call her tiny doll, tiny bunny, tiny princess... She wanted to punch herself for thinking about this and not for almost getting kidnapped or something. "Well, actually you being the devil's child, is surprising you didn't burn those guys to ashes." She showed him tongue and crossed her arms while looking to the window. "Imagine us, being superheroes. We would be like Batman and Robin!" She frowned at his geekiness.

"Robin? What a girlish name." She said and snorted "I hoped that guy hadn't any disgusting disease on his hands" She shakes her shoulders. "Besides we are more like... Charlie's angels!" Eric frowned but didn't tell her anything.


	4. Roadhouse blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is only Donna, Hyde and Kelso and memories.

**One week later**

Shit. The days passed and nothing. Not even a letter. He huffed while looking numbly to his cereal. He knew in his guts he was doing this for Jackie. The cheerleader, his ex-girlfriend, the marriage lunatic, and the first person he gave room in his heart; He let her call him pet names and call her pet names as well. He pretends not to like to spoon her, but always did it. He smiled remembering her.

_She was changing in the bathroom, while he was laying in bed, reading Rolling Stones. He wasn't really reading it, but fuck, his insomnia was worse and worse these days, leaving him with no sleep until 4:00 A.M with nothing to do unless read, listen to music and try to find something on TV. Jackie, as an absorber she is, noticed this. They both pretended she was sleeping here to have sex or something, but he knew it was because she saw him yawing more and more in the day time. She turned off the lights, and he growled._

_"You could at least warned." He threw the magazine somewhere and waited for Jackie's body to fall in his arms. He felt like a kid at Christmas eve waiting for his present. He hugged Jackie's body and felt something different. First, she was too quiet, and second, her flannel pajamas weren't on her body, only a t-shirt. He felt his cheeks get warm and thanked for the lack of light._

__

_"Jackie...What?" He was speechless really. She turned to face him, his hands now on her back. She giggled like a child when adults pretended to be dumb._

_"I just thought since you gave me your shirt I could wear to sleep! Since I'm not gonna wear it to go out or anything. I don't want to seem like I like this noisy bands! Ugh! But y' know I think if someone, besides you, could look cute on this shirt it would be me. Wouldn't you agree?" She asked while he slowly closed his eyes, this was heaven._

_"Hmmm." He murmured, his hands stroking her tights slightly. He wasn't doing this on a sexual matter, it was calming. Almost a reminder to him that she was here, she loved him. Wait, did she? "Do you love me?" He sleepless said, putting his head on her hair, the scent of the strawberry's shampoo worked like a tranquilizer to him. He realized that Jackie's presence was his little secret medicine for insomnia._

_"Of course I do Steven!" The silence wasn't disturbed. He could hear her mouth opening and closing. He took the last strength he had, to try to say something to her. Something that if he was more awake he would have refused._

_"Me too." He smiled knowing she would babble about his answer being so vague and that he didn't even say he loved her. But she cupped his hands tight on hers and before he knew he slept, and for the first time in the month before 04:00 AM._

She wasn't the most sympathetic girlfriend but so wasn't he. But he owned her to all the nights of sleep, all the nights of love she gave him. He hated this but he was so grateful for her. But at the same time, the feeling of her leaving everything like this, with Eric makes him doubt. Donna came like a hurricane in the kitchen.

"They stopped in Chicago!" She yelled and bumped into him. He frowned. 

"What?" Why the hell would they go to Chicago? I mean, they didn't have anything so special to go there."

"Well, Red and I went at some gas stations to ask around." She began to laugh "There was this trucker complaining about a very angry girl and a skinny boy." Donna was barely holding herself together at this point. "Turns out, Eric was ready to get beaten, and as the trucker said

**"That bitch stomped on my foot so hard that stained my sock with my blood. Fucking blood!"**

She imitated the trucker and began to laugh again but stopped. "And then Red almost punched the guy for calling Jackie a bitch." Fuck, he couldn't deny being proud of her. God damn feelings. "And then the other guy said Eric punched the guy for grabbing Jackie." He felt a little responsible for Jackie, and knowing she didn't need him anymore for the stuff that he imagined to be one of the main reasons she was with him, kind of broke him a little. He wasn't that necessary for her. He wasn't needed anymore. "That was in Chicago, we got to go." She was all jumpy and that annoyed the shit out of him. It was his problem to deal with this? Why? He also didn't like people telling what he has to do. He doesn't have to do shit.

"You know when was this?'' He asked suspiciously. He wasn't driving to fucking CHICAGO for nothing if he was driving at all, to begin with.

"No. But the guy couldn't be so hurt by being stomp by Jackie for that long." She was laughing again. Man, Donna was very goofy sometimes.

"I don't know, man. They haven't called or nothing. Might as well leave them. Maybe they're having a thing or something." He didn't want to think about it. He couldn't stay mad at Forman since he did it the same with Kelso. But still, it was more unnatural than he and Jackie would ever be.

"Ew, Hyde!" She yelled as if he told her she caught Mrs. Forman having sex. Well, Eric wasn't like other guys, that's for sure. Jackie would be gross-out by Eric daily, so maybe they aren't together or anything. But why would Eric choose to go with Jackie? The question that made him doubt everything. 

"Just Jackie is doing a lot of things that we never thought of. " It was very unlike Jackie running away. She was so mad by Kelso when he left. Hell, he knew she didn't plan a wedding or anything with anyone but... still. Donna's eyes looked at him with confusion. He, for a few moments, was scared of planting something in her head.

"I don't know, she was pretty mess up lately." Donna said and looked at the ground. Yeah and I haven't seen you do anything about it, he thought but didn't say it, instead he sighed. 

"Yeah, I know." He told without thinking. As soon the words left his mouth he regret it.

"You watch her! You still care about her!" She yelled in the same way she always did when she caught him having feelings. He sometimes wanted to punch Donna even if she is a girl. "Because you loooove her." She made kissing sounds and he stayed with an apathetic expression.

"I'm not going if you continue with this." She crosses her arms and looked at him with puppy eyes.

"Pleaase?" She did the same fucking pout that Jackie did. Bold of her. 

"It doesn't work with you." She looked at him with puppy eyes. God, did he have a soft spot for this or it was just with Jackie? He felt like agreeing but he held back. He wasn't doing this for Jackie or Forman. Well, if it wasn't for Forman he would be leaving in the streets. And Mrs.Forman is very upset. Did he have a choice? His mind was driving him crazy, these feelings and thoughts never leaving his mind and only making him more confused.

"Fine." She said and turned to go elsewhere, he groaned. He would have to do this anyway, didn't he? Or else Kelso might do this and that was not going to happen. He was still confused about all of this happening, they both left him. Kelso entered the basement and he felt himself being already annoyed.

"Man, what did you did to Donna?" Kelso asked in his goofy way.

"What do you mean?" He crossed his arms.

"She was pissed off, more than usual." Kelso said while making his way to the freezer.

"It's just that I'm not feeling like to go after Eric and Jackie." He said and regretted it not turning the TV on, so he could have something other than the floor to look. 

"I agree. You guys didn't come looking after me and Donna." Kelso said while grabbing a popsicle on the freezer, his smile growing bigger seeing he got an orange one.

"Eric did, you moron." He groaned in realization. Eric was most times, empathetic towards them. He did many things for all of them, of course, he screw up more than they all did on a daily basis, but he also never denial help for them even if he was going to lose too.

"Oh, yeah." Kelso said while putting his popsicle in his mouth. "So you should go after them. Eric would do the same to you." After a few moments of silence, Kelso spoke again "Jackie would look after you, too." 

"She wouldn't." He huffed and tried to not notice his heart skipping a beat entirely because of the mention of her name.

"I bet you, she would." He cleaned his throat and got up, Kelso was so entertained by his popsicle that he didn't even look while he walked towards the door. He looked for Donna, and saw her sitting on her porch. Her eyes glued to the ground.

"Pack your bags. We're going in an hour." She turned to him with a smile from ear to ear.

"Thank you, Hyde! I was almost leaving on my own. " She hugged him and ran off to her house and he was left there. All he had was memories. God why he was moping around like they wouldn't find them? Of course they would find them, how hard can it be? He tried not to think about the true answer to this question. He began to pack his bags, which wasn't very much anyway, and the memories came to his mind without warning.

_"Steven!" He looked. She was wearing a flowery dress, and had a red box with a tie in hands. "I have a surprise for you!" He grinned. "Not that." She left the box beside him on the bed. He didn't want to open, scared of what might be. Jackie could...well, make things worse sometimes. Even though she didn't mean it. "Well, open!" She said on her bossy tone._

_"Guessing I have no option." He opened the box, the first thing he saw was a Led Zeppelin t-shirt. It had the Led Zeppelin IV album stamped on it. "Jackie...this is..." He was speechless. This was his favorite album and he never had seen a shirt like this._

__

__

_"There's more!" She told giggly and he looked inside. There was a white and black shirt, a flannel. "Well they were selling on a garage sale and I thought it was so you. And you need more clothes, you know. Oh, I already washed them." She was right. It smelled like her clothes. He still hasn't said anything. She frowned. "Oh god, did I choose the wrong one? Isn't that from the Led Zeppelin album?" She said and her hands went to the end of her dress, lifting a little, and she began to crave her nails in it. He found endearing when Jackie did that. She mostly did it when she was angry or nervous._

__

__

_"Jackie." He said getting up, she was anxiously looking at him. He hugged her tight "thank you very much." She hugged him back, and giggled surprised, while he kissed her head. He felt bad sometimes. He wasn't that good of a boyfriend to Jackie, and when she did something like this he realized how amazing she was._

__

__

_"You liked it!?" She asked with her hands on his face, her nails slowly stroking his sideburns. God, did he loved that._

__

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_"Very much." He closed his eyes and leaned to her touch, she giggled._

__

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_"Well, I'm glad you liked it." He wasn't planning on wearing thought. He didn't want to ruin them or anything. A gift like this and from Jackie was too special for him._

__

__

He sat at the El Camino thinking after calling W.B about taking a few days off. The ache in his chest never ceases, he smoked nine cigarettes in half an hour and he didn't felt better, he couldn't stop remembering Jackie. It was the lack of her smell, her body, her laugh... everything. He saw Donna quickly walking towards the car, her bag on her hand. He quietly waited until she got in, and as soon as she left her bag in the backseat she takes the cigarette of his hand.

"What the fuck, Donna?" He watched Donna slowly enjoying the cigarette and then looking at him.

"I just need a drag. " He grinned when she smoked half of the cigarette and then gave back to him.

"So this is it. Ready?" He tried to tell gently. She nodded. He turned the radio on, not thinking about too much.

_When I say softly, slowly Hold me closer, tiny dancer..._

He turned off immediately. He did not looked at Donna, which was giving almost an evil laugh by his seeing. 

"Say... how did that get there?" She asked still laughing. He growled.

"Can it." He changed to whatever Led Zeppelin song was there, and stayed quiet to the whole ride, aside from mumbling a few lyrics with Donna, or saying how all this billboards were running the view, a thing capitalism does every day. Ruining something beautiful. Donna said he was using this as a metaphor for Jackie's beauty being ruined by her shallowness and he shut himself up again. Afraid that she was saying the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, i had to travel back home and with coronavirus and other things my state of mind was not even remembering that i wrote this. Sorry if i keep anyone waiting, i'm hoping somebody likes this chapter.


	5. Paranoid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hyde and Donna get closer to finally found their friends; A new person joins the quest.

When they got to Chicago, they went around the streets and there was no sight of a scrawny boy and a loudly annoyingly girl. He knew that it wasn't worth it coming here, did Donna really thought they were going to find them that easily? Like it wasn't a big town? it was huge. 

"I knew this was going to be a waste of time." He told her when they stopped to eat something and no one had seen them around. Donna seemed hopeless for a few minutes. She had this frown on her face and didn't look at him, she was looking out the window, to the streets, and he did too. A lot of people were passing by, he began to notice the stores, from all types of things, and a strange-looking one. He frowned too.

"Wait, wait. Let's go ask....there!" Donna spoke with her mouth full of food. He now notices that it was a tourist thing since most people who came here were mostly dumb. He groaned when she got up. He followed her, knowing that he had no choice, grabbing the leftover of his burger. He finished eating while walking slowly behind Donna. When they got there he took the lead.

"Hey." He groaned lazily to the girl, and she looked at him with the same energy. "By any chance did you saw a girl with a shrill voice, mismatched big eyes..." He saw Donna frown beside him "Really tiny... About this tall." He tapped just below his shoulder. He said and cleaned his throat, uncomfortable reminding she was so little in this big city. The girl's brown eyes perked up. 

"Oh yeah! I gave her the idea of going to a farm nearby. But I don't know if she went." Nice. That was truly great, he was getting to drive again and not being sure he would find her. Just peachy.

"She was with a scrawny boy?" Donna asked and he grinned. Not even his girlfriend would give Forman a break.

"Yes. He was driving i think." The girl told and Donna practically bolted to the car.

"So where is this farm again?" Hyde asked leaning on the balcony. The girl appeared to be wanting to confess something. The spike collar in her throat went up and down. 

"You guys mind if I came along?" Her brown eyes looked pleading to him, her blond hair going behind her ear. She looked, by the Rolling Stones t-shit, all the spikes, and piercings a tough girl. But know she didn't act that way.

"Oh... No, I think. But why?" He looked back at Donna that looked fuzzed about the delay. Looking back to the girl she was biting her fingernails. Hyde was nowhere a nosy person, but he got curious over this. 

"I just... Really wanted to go there." He nodded. The girl took five minutes to finish her shift and change. When they both went to the car, Donna frowned. 

"Hyde...?" Donna asked.

"Oh, sorry. My name is Emmanuele, I'm just taking a ride." Donna glanced between Hyde and the girl. Her brown eyes went wide. "He said I could!" Emmanuele pointed to Hyde and he nodded. Donna gave shoulders and a small smile crossed her face.

"I'm Donna. The farm is far?"

* * *

The place was quite beautiful. There were a lot of trees, plants, and flowers. They passed a sign saying the name's farm which he was too lost in his thoughts to read. He parked the car, the sun was setting. He heard Donna's steps and Emmanuele's behind him while both of them directed to the front door. He knocks on the door two times and was answered quickly. A girl with brown hair answers the door, she looked a bit older than them.

"Hi! How may I help you?'' Her voice was chirpy and he made a face, which he could see Emmanuele did too. 

"Is Jackie and Eric here?" Donna asked, directly. The girl frowned a bit.

''Oh. Yes... Friends of them?" She asked and turned her head slightly. Her brown eyes reminded him of Kelso. He could tell by the way she was talking that she wasn't the smarter on the house.

''I'm Eric's girlfriend...'' Donna said and stood her hand for the girl to shake. The girl shook her hand excitedly, Donna's arms going up and down. 

"Oh... Donna right?" Donna nodded, seeming to calm down. "And you must be Steven. Or Hyde. Don't know what to call you really...." He could notice a stripe of her overall falling while she scratched her head. "Anyway, I'm Tara!" 

"Hyde, please. Can we see them?" Hyde tried to ask politely. The girl nodded and gave them space to enter. 

"Of course, they must be upstairs." Donna and Hyde head up, while they went upstairs Tara looked at the blond girl who was quietly looking at the place. "And you are?" She asks sweetly to her. 

"Emmanuele." He could bearly hear the small voice from the girl.

"Wow! Cool name." Tara responded with true excitement. He took a quick gaze at them before they disappear; Emmanuele had her cheeks really red, and Tara's eyes were sparkling. The rest of the conversation was muffled by the whisper's coming from the door with the only light on. Suddenly he got nervous; His stomach with sharp pain and his hands sweaty, Donna seemed to be feeling the same. They waited and looked so long for them, but now he didn't want to face them. To finally confront them. He sighed hard before taking one more step towards the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, sorry for the delay... I promise i'm going to finished this story but i'm a perfectionist about this so...


	6. Gimme shelter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The friends finally reunite but it's not all sweet and light.

When Hyde got in front of the door he saw Jackie's small figure with a purple almost black dress, her face hidden by Eric's face. They were whispering softly and Eric held Jackie in his arms. 

"You bitch!" He heard Donna's scream behind him, Jackie and Eric jumping from each other. He had a small time to process Jackie's swollen and red eyes; She was crying. She couldn't possibly be kissing Forman, he must be just consoling her. He kept the thought in mind as Jackie's eyes turned to him. It wasn't for long, since Donna jumped on Jackie. Hard. "You slut! You're going to jump from guy to guy just because you're alone?'' Eric was trying to get Donna out of Jackie but he couldn't, he felt frozen. It all seemed to be a fever dream, and he could barely process things. Once he heard Jackie's cough and cry he grabbed Donna's shoulders and yanked to Jackie's opposite side.

"Donna, stop." He growled. Donna stud there startled by his tone, her green eyes looking at him with a confused expression. He breathed a few times and looked at Jackie. Tears falling from her eyes and one was getting purple. Her bottom lip was cut, and her cheek bleeding. She jumped on him, her arms going on his neck, her hair in his face, the smell of something sweet that he couldn't tell the name flood his mind and he closes his eyes. He stands there, dumbfounded. He imagined Jackie would be scared of him. Her hiccups of crying broke his hypnoses and he opened his eyes. His heart couldn't handle being cold to Jackie, not right now. He gently stroked her back. 

"It's okay." He got her up, her face going to his neck. His first thought about carrying her like a bride was that she was heavier, but she didn't seem to be, he was glad she was eating well. He shoots a glance at Donna who was with angry tears in her eyes, looking down. Eric was still sitting as before he was pushed away by Donna. Hyde's attention was in his lips. They weren't red or swollen.

He was at the end of the corridor, almost at the top of the stairs when Jackie started to speak.

"Steven! I swear I wasn't doing anything, I was just... I was crying and Eric was hugging me! That's all, I swear!" If he knew one thing about Jackie was that she wasn't a cheater, well she cheated Kelso that one time, but he liked to think she grew up since then and whatever, it was Kelso and he deserved it. She wouldn't let Eric kiss her for the sake of Donna, it was her common sense. He knew that. He also knew about not jumping to conclusions without knowing the whole story, considering he did that to her. And lost her. She hiccuped again.

"Hey, you don't own me nothing, man." She looked away. Again he couldn't bring himself to be angry with her. She was like a god damn fairy, making him forget all his angry thoughts about her leaving. "Let's go downstairs so that girl can help me clean your bruises."

* * *

She felt Steven's soft touch on her lip, and for once wasn't the way she liked. She looked at the light on top of his head, trying to concentre on anything that wasn't her best friend's look. Her anger. She called her slut, bitch. They did that, but not in the tone she used, not truly mean it. Lasts weeks she had relied so much on Eric. They watched Love Story together and Star Wars even though she hated it. She would never kiss him! They were pretending to be brothers even! She felt a non-expected hiccup leave her throat.

"Doll." She heard Steven's husky voice and looked at him. He grew a beard back and had a smile on his face. Okay, she admits it. The beard made him so cute when smiling. Made him look at the same time tougher and cuter, but making out with him was a little uncomfortable. Unfortunately, she wasn't going to do this now.

"You grew the beard back." She said and passed her finger on his chin, like he used to do with her. 

"Yeah." He grinned. "You see the mess you made?" He was joking but she took seriously. She felt her bottom lip tremble. "I didn't mean like that." He frowned and put his glasses on. She felt himself preparing for war and she did the same. 'Why did you left, man?"

"Everything was just wrong. My Tv show wasn't going anywhere, Donna had been colder with me and y' know I was... without you and lonely."

"You were only like this because you wanted! And then you fucking left!" She growled. Of course, it was her fault he was a commitment freak that made her feel insecure. However, she wasn't going to argue over this, not again.

"Steven is not like we were going back together!" She felt her heart tight when she saw behind the glasses Steven's look. He didn't object. "You were..."

"Don't." He growled. She ignored the sudden anger in his voice, if someone should be angry it was her.

"I didn't leave to be away from you! I said it in the letter. I just needed space from all the things that represented being there." Jackie's voice became more loud and shrill.

"Whatever'' Jackie wanted to give up. Yell at him to bite her and head to her room. Steven's eyes were cold and distant. His blue eyes seemed colder than winter's nights. She could see his eyes going for her bruises and a very subtle but noticeable change in his eyes, they were softened. He sighed deeply and looked down. She wasn't ready to give up on him. 

"Steven...both me and Eric just felt...lost." She told slowly, forcing the words to come out. She slowly walked closer, making him look at her. His eyebrows were furrowed but his eyes looked sad, they reminded her of when she broke up with him, it was the same look.

"And you don't think I was?'' He said without looking at her. Her eyes went big with surprise.

"You were?" Her voice came out a whisper. 

"I'm never okay with you away." He sighed hard. He left his glasses on the table, his blue eyes shining at her. She was completely taken by surprise by the statement but didn't speak anything, afraid it would scare him away like a deer. "I just... I don't like being...left." Jackie felt her cheeks get red with shame and she felted a sudden heat in her body. She felt horrible now, leaving him after what both his parents did. 

"I'm sorry, baby." She said and his gleaming eyes looked at her, he ignored her calling him that, and returned to clean her bruises in silence, as both sat back in their respective chairs. "We didn't mean to upset you guys." She told louder, and he nodded.

"Why Forman? Why not, I don't know, Fez?" She chuckled. 

"Well, he asked me. And I like Fez, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't take this trip with him because I would most likely kill him." He laughed silently and put a bandage on her cheek. He seemed to be a pro at this, she wonders how many times he had to this to himself and others.

"I get it." He mumbled. His blue eyes focused on her bruises.

"Donna was upset?" She asked hesitantly. She was wondering about this, did Donna got upset for not having a letter from her?

"At first, angry. Then a little upset." Hyde admitted. 

"She must hate me." Her eyes began to water. God, Donna must really hate her. For everything and since always.

"Jackie..." His eyes softened to her, and he caressed her cheek very gently. She took for a sign to continue talking.

"It's normal this type of thing happens in the cheerleading squad, daily routine. But I never expected from Donna." And she didn't. She always felt Donna was a special kind of friendship, the one who truly matters. 

"She was out of it. Dunno." He shrugged but she could see the slight trembling of his lip, almost as if he had more to say.

"What do you mean?" She asked nervously. 

"It must be hard for her. Her boyfriend leaving with her best friend." He gazed slightly to her but didn't say anything more. 

"But-- It wasn't like that!'' Jackie's voice got louder. She would never do that to Donna, and she figured she knew that. 

"I know, Jackie. " Steven said calmly. 

"So, you guys enjoyed the trip?" He huffed and dropped the gauze on the table. She heard the muffled voices from the kitchen get louder, figuring the girls assumed the fight was over. Suddenly she realized, who was with Tara? She couldn't recognize the voice and it wasn't Donna. Did they bring someone? Did Steven bring someone?

"No." He looked around. "But it seems that it's a nice place here." He crossed his arms. She smiled, seeing that this was an indication of him that now the fight was over, and she would be able to talk without feeling like stepping on egg shelves.

"It is! There are sooooo many things you have to see! Oh first, there is this waterfall nearby, beautiful. And every Friday we have a small party, y' know for the guests and staff. I help do the cooking and decoration. Oh! Tara helped me learn to cook! She is very patient. And there is Hunter! He's a dog. But you have to see the things he does! Is so cute. And Tara gave me a lot of dresses, I love them. But anyway if you guys stayed until Friday we can leave altogether!" She stopped talking realizing how much she had babbled about things and Steven was clearly not interested and she looked at the table ashamed. When she stopped talking his gaze was immediately at her, he grinned as he spoke. 

"This stuff sounds cool. Is just that?" She felt herself almost explode from happiness, and was ready to babble again.

"No! So--" She was cut by Tara, who came from the kitchen with a sheepish smile, which was very uncommon from her. 

"Jackie, you and Hyde" She winked at him " Certainly don't mind sleeping in your room together right?" Steven had this grin on his face that made her happy. Still, she slapped him slightly on the chest. His eyes were still on her, asking for her permission. She shrugged, wanting to hear his response.

"It's fine, man. By any chance, you guys have any food?" Steven asked with a grin on his face.

"Oh, for sure! Since you are Jackie's friend is in the house." Jackie immediately got up and went with Tara to the kitchen. Tara stopped halfway and looked at her questioning. 

"I... I want to help." Jackie spoke quietly, and Tara smiled sweetly like she always did. 

"No need. You are pretty beat up." She winked again. And faked laughed. Jackie giggled like a child, and she couldn't even hold back. Tara had that effect in people, mostly on her. "And Emmanuele is helping me, she is a friend of your friends." Suddenly a girl came from the kitchen. She recognized her from the tourist thing, her eyes she remembered being so bored in that place, now seemed chirpy and excited. So she was the girl... She was blond. 

"Not a friend, just took a ride with them. Nice to meet you..." She looked at the blond girl and frowned. She was Steven's type, she noticed by the Rolling Stones t-shirt and the spikes. Did something happen between the two of them? She pushed these thoughts away from her mind, Steven wasn't hers anymore for her to think about those things. She forced a smile and nodded welcoming to the girl.

"You too, I'm Jackie." Emmanuele nodded seeming to recall Jackie, and she smiled again. 

"Take care of your bruises, okay? If you feel bad tomorrow, you can take the day off." Tara's voice called her attention from the stove. She was putting something in the pan, her brown hair falling behind her back. 

"Thanks, Tara. " Jackie said truly. Tara had this very motherly care for others, and that caught Jackie's attention. Mostly because she was not that older than them, but treated them like Mrs. Forman did. 

"So, Uhm, Jackie. Fez told me you wanted to talk about, hm, us?" Oh, that felt so long ago, she bearly remembered trying to speak to him. But now the memories came all together, the bad ones too. She flinched.

"Oh. I guess I did." She locked herself in her pocket mirror. God, she was terrible looking. Her hair a mess, her makeup all smudged, and the bruises were hidden by the curative, but it was visible a deep shade of purple coming from her eye and mouth. She would most likely forgive Donna, but she was going to pay a pair of new makeup. A very expensive one. 

"So you don't want anymore?" She almost forgot what they were talking about when Steven spoke again. She closed the little mirror and looked at him, paying more attention to the conversation.

"I guess... If you had any different opinion." She sighed, defeated. She had little hope he would reconsider anything about the breakup, so this was kind of an ultimatum. He breathed hard and loudly.

"I actually do." A very large plate of pasta was left in front of him by Tara. "Thank you. Uhm... I actually don't see myself as a bright future. I always figured it out that by 30 I would be dead or whatever."

"Oh." Jackie felt helpless. He was just going to tell her what she already guessed. He wasn't getting back with her, he had no vision for his future even with her. She sighed and Steven caught her hand. 

"But you..." He was looking directly at her. "So many times I heard Mrs. Forman talking about you, how I'm the happiest I ever was with you. She knows me since I was 7, Jacks." She was tearing up already, she didn't even was able to clean them without hurting her face, so she didn't. "For a long time, I didn't know if I really loved you. I thought how did I get to hurt you, pretend I didn't care about you? How many times I just watched you leave the room?"

"Because you are a dill hole." She affirmed and he grinned. 

"Because I'm a dill hole." He looked down. "I don't know if we are going to be together forever but... I wouldn't mind it." His eyes looking expectantly towards her, waiting for her response. She was so surprised by the unexpected confession, by the sincerity in his eyes. It all hit her at once, and she smiled brightly. 

"Steeeveen." She cupped his face with her hands, the beard making tickles on her face but she didn't mind. She felt his lips curve on a smile. He kissed her cheek before beginning to eat.

"Don't want to get cold y' know." She nodded. And for a moment she forgot about Donna, about her parents, about the pain she had ever felt. She just looked at Steven who was eating pasta like he didn't eat for months, beard getting all dirty and his eyes almost childlike. She felt this sudden peace slowly leave her, but she continued to smile at Steven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if anyone thought it would be a happy reunion but... Anyway, here it goes! Thank you all for the kudos, hits and comments! I'm very glad for the feedback!


	7. Babe i'm gonna leave you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little of bed talk between Jackie and Hyde.

He felt Jackie's naked body warmly next to his. The room had a TV and they were both watching Shark, mostly him. Jackie would doze off and wake up when something noisy happened. Her head in his chest, her long black hair now a mess of curls. The room was awfully small, and he could see she had decorated some things. There was a lava lamp on the nightstand and a stuffed pink horse. He sighed deeply and closed his eyes, the feeling of her presence, her skin, and everything was calming as hell, even if they haven't talked about their relationship he didn't felt the need. He silently turned off the TV and decided to go to the kitchen to get some water.

"Steven?" He could notice the slight fear in her voice.

"Just getting some water." He mumbled almost asleep and went down the stairs. He saw a light on, which he found weird since it was almost one in the morning. When he first saw the top of a redhead's head, he already knew they're going to fight. He walked silently towards the sink, he could feel her eyes in him. 

"Hyde." She said first in a low tone voice. He felt himself in a bad fight movie, where the enemies would say each other's name loudly before the fight. 

"Donna." He spoke in the same tone and didn't look at her. He heard her loud sigh and closed his eyes, getting ready for the excuse. Truth be told, if Foreman hit him, he wouldn't mind. Forman would give him a lame excuse and that finished everything. However, Donna didn't hit Forman or him. She hit Jackie. That's was why he was so angry, for sure if it was a guy, he would've punched the guy to the pulp. 

"Look I'm sorry okay? I just thought... Jackie... She just is always trying with one of the gang y' know? First Kelso, now you, and then she runs away with Eric. What could I possibly think?" For a few seconds, he could see where this came from. But right then, an image of Jackie stepping in the groom from Eric and Donna's fail wedding made him growl. Jackie, even if she made some snarky comments about Donna's appearance, always defended and wanted the best for her. 

"Why you think so little of her? She isn't... Well, she is shallow but she's not a whore!" Donna's eyes went wide.

"I... I didn't mean that. I just... She is always in a relationship. She just jumps from guy to guy and the worse is every fucking guy falls on her feet." Donna's cheeks were red from anger, and he huffed. Probably not the best thing the most hot-headed people in the house fight with each other, he thought ironically. 

"Yeah, so of course the only option was to jump into her face." He saw several tears fall from Donna's eyes and a strange look on her face. "Jackie doesn't jump from guy to guy, moron. She liked Kelso and since the begging, she wanted to be with me, remember? It wasn't news for me, Donna when we hook up. How can you tell you're fucking feminist and judge your best friend like that, huh? Or the way you always defend Kelso instead of her? Don't you think she gets sad? Of course, she does! Stop being so self-centered, god!" Hyde huffed a few more times before leaving the kitchen. Donna's red hair was falling in her face, getting wet and sticking in her face from the tears. He didn't give a fuck, if Donna apologizes to Jackie and truly mean it. But if she apologized and still think those things from Jackie, he would yell at her all night.

"Steven." Jackie was standing in front of the door, eyes shining. She was with his shirt on, covering her body almost to her thighs. She scratched her eye and looked at him again. He sighed and hugged her.

"Just...Let's go get some sleep okay?" He dragged her pulling the end of his shirt, to the bed. He left the glass of water on the nightstand and laid in the bed. Her small figure slowly went to him, and he hugged her. He was about to close his eyes to try to sleep, thinking if he slept fast enough, Jackie wouldn't try talking. But she did.

"You defended me." She whispered.

"No one messes with my chick. Not even Donna." He heard her giggle and said, "Not a peep about this whole thing, okay?" He felt her nod on his chest and he sighed. Now, for sure, he was able to get some sleep. When he started to feel that quick feeling of falling asleep, Jackie's voice wakens him up and he moaned.

"So are you going back when?" He sat on the bed. He couldn't properly see her, but her figure was distinguishable in the dark.

"You?" He scratched the back of his head "Not us?" He felt himself getting hot with anxiety. Fuck, they were a few hours back together and his fear for being over again was huge. 

"Oh..." Her mismatched eyes shifted to the ground and the door until she sighed. "I was planning to go to New York actually." He frowned. 

"Why?"

"I--" She hugged him tightly, her hands grabbing his shirt. "Please, Steven. I'm not able to lose you again, not this time." He could only see the top of her head, but he knew she was saying that honestly. 

"Jackie, what the hell?" Was his only reaction. What the fuck was she doing? Why this was happening? He slowly got up and turned on the lights, her hands were still grabbing his shirt when he turned on the lights. Her eyes were filled with tears, and her lip trembled. 

"Promise me Steven, no matter what I say next, you don't leave me." She had pleading eyes for him, which shocked him at first. Jackie would always pout and demand what she wants; Seeing her like this, made him think if he broke her that badly. If he made her being this insecure about them, to the point of her being desperate to tell something for him. He shifted his gaze to somewhere far away from her face, the guilt eating him alive. 

"Fine." He said without having the courage of saying something more, something more assuring. 

"I got accepted in the NYU." He took a few minutes to then realize a lot of things. First, Jackie the girl who thought that only ugly girls studied, passed on to a fine college. Second, she was afraid of losing him, because of that. Which is very logical of her, seeing that he was always stubborn about commitment. He didn't mind driving to see her from Point Place to New York or even live with her. So he did a thing, that he never saw himself doing, but with Jackie seemed right. "Ste--AAAWW!" He hugged her and lifted her.

"Congratulations, man." He said still with her body on his arms. That way she was finally on his height. He was smiling so hard, he was feeling like a dork. But he didn't mind the bright smile that Jackie gave to him. 

"Thank you, Steven, now put me down!" She said between giggles and tapped his shoulder. When she put her down, her big mismatched eyes looked at his for an answer. He sighed. 

"We talk more about this in the morning, okay? I'm not going anywhere." He turned off the lights and sat on the bed as she gazed at him for a few seconds. Slowly she made her way up to him, sitting in his legs. 

"Okay." She begins to kiss him again. Her petit hands grabbing the curls in his head, gently scratching the scalp of his head. He sighed with a lust full in his lungs and grabbed her waist underneath her shirt. Her hands were to his neck, her nails doing soft paths in his neck, making him shiver. Like a switch, she stopped and gazed at him expectantly.

"Jackie? Don't try to make me talk by kissing." She pouted and got off of him.

"Steven, I was just kissing you goodnight." She lay beside him, and he pulled her to his embrace to assure her he wasn't going anywhere. When he closed his eyes, the events of the night began to pass as a movie in his head; He tried hard not to remember the hurt in Jackie's eyes when they got there, but it was impossible. 

"Doll." He murmured.

"Hmm?" She hummed in his chest.

"Why were you crying when we got here?" He asked softly almost in a whisper. The silence was so long, he began to be anxious. Jackie hardly was silent for this long, and he asked a deep question to her. His fear of the thing she was maybe trying to hide made him suddenly hot. 

"I... Missed you." She whispered back, in the tiniest voice she made while being honest to him.

"Really?" He chuckled. "It was because of that?" He was smiling softly, despite him being the reason she cried. Jackie could be so fucking sweet sometimes, it amazes him she was the same person that dated Kelso. 

"Yeah.'' He laughed again. "Stop laughing! This is very romantic of me!" She complained in her high pitched voice, a reminder that she wasn't always so sweet. 

"Sure." He breathed deciding that he wasn't with enough energy to duel with her. 

"Goodnight Puddin'." She murmured gently in his ear, kissing his cheek and snoozing in his neck.

"Night." He let his face fall in her raven hair and absorb the scent. It was a very light sweet, like vanilla. He missed the smell. He had the entire night to think about all things of the day. Jackie going to New York, Donna, and her apology. He squeezed Jackie at the thought of her leaving, would a long-distance relationship work? _No, no, no._ His mind kept saying, it wouldn't. No matter how hard they would try to make it work, it never would. He heard a small whisper coming from an asleep Jackie, her hands grabbing his shirt slightly. His mind was confused, how could something so good, so right, go wrong just because of the distance? His mind went to sleep hoping that tomorrow would never come. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!! Wow, this got to so many hits! I'm very happy and hope everybody is enjoying. I'm trying very hard to make this story as entertaining as it could be, and i'm so glad for everyone who is leaving kudos and comments! Thank you!


	8. Sympathy for the devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eric's point of view of everything.

He woke up with a mess of redhead's hair on his face and no blanket on his body. He stretched his arms slightly and pulled Donna closer to himself. Her hair had the smell of some citrus fruit and cigarette. Jackie had the exact opposite smell. He realized that now. Jackie had different perfumes; For the morning, something more chirpy and happy. For the afternoon, sweet but stronger enough to live the scent in the room. And at night, almost none. Just something very sweet and almost fading. 

"Eric." He felt a tap on his face. He opened his eyes and for a moment, he mistook it for a dream. Donna's hair was a mess, her lips still red from kissing for hours and hours, and her green eyes half-opened. "Happy to see me?" She said and let out a laugh. He felt his cheeks grow hot and as he tried to explain, she laughed harder. He got the blanket and curled in a cocoon. As he heard Donna's laugh he realized how rarely he got to hear Jackie's laugh the same. Even though he did try all kinds of humor to make her laugh, the thing she laughed at was always the least expected it.

_"What's her name again?" Jackie asked at the end of the movie, her eyes were still on the screen and she was frowning. Despite making fun of him for liking nerdy things, she did seemed to watch the movie thoughtfully._

_"Leia? The princess?" He asked with precaution._

__

___"Yeah, yeah. I'm just like her." She said and got up off the sofa, and changed the channel. He was bothering her to see with him since he saw that was going to pass on._ _ _

____

____

_"Jackie, I doubt you can do half of what she did in that movie." He chuckled sarcastically._

_"Oh! You bet I can, and with better hair! Who decided to do that to a princess?" She huffed and her eyes were looking at him, expecting his answer, a clear demand on her eyes._

_"But, if you think about it, this is futuristic fashion, so eventually her hair will be soo this season." She frowned in disgust._

_"I hope I'll be dead by then." He grinned._

_"Hey! You two lazyass, clean the basement." Tara yelled from the kitchen. Both of them had an agreement without words; Not going to the basement. It was funny at first when both of them said that the fear of spiders was the reason. Tara laughed and brought back from the basement 2 possums and a rat, saying that Hunter had killed them and that the basement was now clean of animals. The two of them nodded and told that tomorrow they would, and then tomorrow came and Tara forgot about the promise. After 3 days she remembered. And they had no choice. They looked at each other defeated and went. When Eric was on top of the stairs and lit the light on, he laughed softly. This basement had nothing alike to his, it was smaller and full of boxes. Not even a chair was around. Jackie's laughter also filled the basement, and he looked confused at her._

_"We were scared of this little thing? My closet is bigger than this." She put on her gloves, since she refused to touch dust, and began opening the boxes. Her raven hair falling in her face, that was with a frown of disgust. His heart skips a beat. Wait! This was Jackie! Jackie the annoying, bratty, and rich girl. She looked at him, her hazel greenish eyes looking at him with wonder. "Are you having an aneurysm? I'm not doing this by myself you know." She told in that bitchy tone._

_"Yeah, yeah." He didn't have a comeback to that. He might as well be having an aneurysm. When they were about to put the last box upstairs, he saw Jackie downstairs kneel next to a sunglass. He heard her soft sob, and he put hesitantly his foot back up, hoping she didn't saw him._

_"Why didn't he love me, Eric?" He froze in his place and sigh in defeat._

_"Jackie, Hyde... Just because he didn't say it doesn't mean he didn't love you." He kneeled beside her, his arm resting on her shoulder. The soft fabric of her dress made him able to feel her bra and his cheeks got red. God, why was he like this? He quickly took off his hand and rested on his knee._

_"Would you be able to be with someone who didn't show? Not even a little?" Her big eyes were gazing at him, full of sadness. He gulped with the closeness they were, he could see the different colors for each eye of hers, which he never noticed before. He could see her lips trembling, and her hands moving nervously on her dress. He chooses to not answer the question._

_"He showed Jackie. Sometimes, rare and very subtle but he did. He saved some cookies for you when my mom made it and you were not there, he let you choose the song in the El Camino... I know they sound like little things, but for someone who's been a long time with him... I don't know... It seemed he loved you. It seemed to me he was happy with you." She stayed quiet. "Which I learned now that it can be very hard." He couldn't bring himself to not make a joke, to not try making her laugh. With her eyes full of tears, she still smiled brightly._

_"Oh shut it." She patted him on the shoulder lightly. "But now... It's all ruined anyway. I don't even know if I'm coming back." She put the sunglasses delicately in the box and pick them up. He frowned._

_"What do you mean?" She looked at the ground and then him. A sad smile appeared on her face._

His memory was cut with green eyes peeking into him. A sudden heat inside him startled him. The fear of having feelings for Jackie and still be with Donna was eating him alive. 

"What time is it?" Donna asked closing her eyes and yawning. 

"Almost nine." He decided, since he was up and awaken by the anxiety he should start working early. He got up and started to put some clothes on, even if his head was nowhere near dressing slightly well. "I have to work, you want to come?" He knew the answer before she talked.

"I can't face Jackie... Not yet." He frowned. He thought, for some dumb reason, they would have been friends again without any commotion. Maybe that's because Hyde hit him so many times, he didn't even felt pain anymore. But the girls were different. 

"She will forgive you. Just talk to her." He assured her, and he knew he was right. She forgave Hyde and Kelso, and as he well knew, physical pain was a lot easier to forgive than the pain of mistrust. He only hopes that Jackie would let the actions of Donna slide.

"How do you know?" Donna frowned and suddenly he felt guilty. Donna didn't know how well he and Jackie are getting along. 

"I know she seems the devil, but she isn't." He tried to say indifferent. 

"I know that she is my best friend." Donna's cheeks grew red and her frown was getting bigger. He wasn't trying to say that he knew Jackie better, as Donna seemed to understand. The worst of all this jealous phase that Donna was going through was that it wasn't a lie, she was right. Eric did indeed have a crush on Jackie, and he knew he was terrible at hiding them.

"So you shouldn't wait long." He said and kissed her quickly on the lips. She smiled thoughtfully and wished good work, he blinked at her, but he couldn't do it with just one eye. He left hearing her laugh across the hall. 

When he got to the kitchen, Jackie was already there. The bruises were worse now, he could see by the color. Jackie tried to cover it up with makeup but it was still visible.

"Hey, there champ." He taped her shoulders and she rolled her eyes annoyed.

"You should see the other guy." She tried to joke, a small chuckle leaving her mouth. He felt really bad for Donna, and even more for Jackie. Jackie was hurting by another betrayal and Donna was getting eating alive by her guilt. At least he was finally able to help them with a few jokes here and there, but he wanted to do more.

"She's very sorry about..." He almost immediately was cut out by Jackie.

"Yeah, I know. Still doesn't change what she thinks of me." She said sighing. Eric opened his mouth to speak but a loud voice came over his.

"Good morning! Let's start with Jackie helping me with breakfast and Eric taking them to the respective rooms. Hurry!" Tara came like a hurricane in the kitchen already full of energy, shoving Eric to the kitchen cabinet. He got the right amount of plates and set them on the table. He sat at the kitchen table waiting for the breakfast to be ready, arrange them and leave it in front of the bedroom with a knock. He barely got to see Jackie, that was partly the main reason he stayed here for so long. She didn't want to leave here, and he never saw her happier anywhere, so he decided to stay too. Since he discovered his feelings towards Jackie, he decided to keep it entirely to himself. He knew he loved Donna, and would always do, however, Jackie after he got to know her better, appeared to be someone taken from a fairytale. Aside from the things she talked about, she was perfect. He began to see aside from her unbelievable beauty, the things she did when she thought nobody would see.

How she would change his alarm to a half-hour later, so he could sleep more. How she would buy treats especially for Hunter. Or when she helped Tara even though her shift was over. How she dialed his house number many many times but was too scared to let them answer. When she would ask how Hyde was as a kid, how was living with him. Or when he caught her turning the radio up when Led Zeepling played. She truly cared about others, the ones she considered the most. That grew into him. Even the childish things she did, like talking to the flowers while watering them, begging for Tara for a stuffed animal to decorate her room here. So she could feel at home. He was just unable to not fall a little bit for her. That came with a lot of other things; He changed his seeing of Hyde. He began to understand him more, why he liked her so much. But also, be doubtful about his true intentions. Why he did the things he did to Jackie? She was truly hurt by his aloofness about her, and Eric couldn't understand how he could treat her like that. How he could let her go more than once. And apparently, they were back together now. That left an uneasy feeling on his stomach, bitterness. He felt bad about feeling these things, he had a girlfriend, they both are his friends, he shouldn't feel this way. Yet he did. He went downstairs only to see that the breakfasts were finished, his work over. Yet he heard noises coming from the kitchen, and when he got there Jackie was cooking. He smiled at her focus. 

"Whatcha got there?" He said smiling.

"JESUS ERIC!" She jumped nearly to his height and he giggled in amusement. She turned with an angry face and her hand in her heart. "I'm making breakfast for you and everyone. You can just wait there, I'll take you in a minute." He sat and read the newspaper while waiting, something he never really did, like ever. He imagined that the world was in another dimension because Jackie was also cooking. Oh my god. He was becoming like Red, reading and waiting for breakfast. He tossed the newspaper aside at the floor, putting his hands on his face. The sound of nails patting on the floor made him look down. There was Hunter with the newspaper in his mouth, his fluffy black tail wagging. He smiled. 

"Thanks, buddy." He patted his head, and Hunter decided to just stay there, waiting to be petted. He looked again at his brown eyes and rolled eyes. "You needy beast. " Eric said and started to play with the dog's ear.

"Eric are you officially crazy? Hunter can't understand you." Jackie said without looking at him, but there wasn't bitterness in her voice. Just a slight teasing. He smiled. 

"Oh, because the flowers do understand you?" She looked at him with anger. He showed her tongue and looked at Hunter, who was now almost full laying on his lap. Jackie left the plate in the corner of the table, he stretched himself to get it without taking Hunter's head and paws off his lap.

When he saw the plate with a smiley face with bacon and looked at Jackie that was smiling brightly at him, he knew he was already in dipshit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, sorry for the awful delay. I'm going to finish this story, just needed a little time. Sorry!! Hope everyone enjoy it! I'll try to post again this week yet or sooner.


	9. Take a chance on me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna and Jackie decide to talk.

She decided to take a cigarette before talking to someone. That probably would be the smartest move, and considering she took Hyde's cigarette wallet. He was too busy reconciling with Jackie to notice he left in his car, and she took it. She lit up and looked at the view of Eric's bedroom. The trees seemed little from here, the sky was in this bright blue color, and full of clouds. It appeared to be the perfect day to go outside with your friends. If you have any, she thought to herself. God, she was so impulsive when she did that to Jackie. She literally freaked out, and worse of all, it was on her best friend. She was so stupid, so, so, stupid. She remembered when Jackie was happy that they were friends, or when she tried to cheer her up by dancing with her stuffed unicorn. She missed her already. She was so lost in her daydreams, that she missed the door opening. 

"Donna?" She felt her heartbeat almost stop from the sudden voice, she turned slowly recognizing the voice. There was Jackie, with her face bruised and impatient eyes. She felt horrible for being responsible for the bruises on Jackie's face. 

"Donna!" She told in her demanding tone. "Breakfast is ready for hours now!" She looked at Donna's hands. "You're smocking now?" She scratched her nose in disgust. 

"Figured now was a good time to start." Donna's hoarse throat made her voice came out too low, a clear sign that she had been crying last night, she realized. Jackie went towards the door and stopped when she didn't follow. She didn't turn back when she whispered.

"Donna... I know I might be a bad friend... But, you hated me that much?" She could sense the doubt in her voice. Her hands were nervously straightening it up her dress. 

"I don't hate you. I never did. I was an idiot, worse than Kelso." Jackie chuckled. ''You know that I love you, right?" Donna was not sure she ever told this to Jackie, and it didn't seem to be needed to say at any point. Maybe, she realized that now, it could have helped avoid all this. 

"I never knew." She could see the tears falling from her eyes when she turned. But when she looked at Donna she smiled brightly. "I love you too, you buffoon." Jackie jumped and hugged Donna so strongly that Donna felt almost breathless. Her tiny arms were holding her so tightly as if she was afraid Donna was running away. Since Donna was a kid, she wasn't a cry baby. She would hold the tears so hard it would hurt her throat because she knew, crying was a sign of weakness and it was a very girly thing to do. But now, when she sensed the tears coming, she knew she didn't need to hold them back. 

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking right. I'm so sorry." It was her turn to hug Jackie close to herself, her raven hair in Donna's face getting wet from her own tears. "I'm messing your hair with tears. " Donna said while sniffing and slightly pulling Jackie away from her. Jackie though didn't seem to want to back out.

"It's okay, Donna." She was now patting Donna's back very gently. "For everything, even the hair. I was going to change anyway. Who knew that working was such a mess? Ugh! I hate it." Donna chuckled. "Did you really think that of me?" Jackie said in a low tone, barely being audible.

"For a time, before Hyde spoke to me, It was the only way I could see things. Sorry, I think I took you for granted." Donna felt the heat of embarrassment settle on her cheeks.

"You should learn to never do that, Donna. " Jackie said seriously.

"Yeah, midget. I think you're right." Jackie let go of Donna while both of them cleaned their faces. Donna did that with her T-shirt while Jackie did with her hands.

"Now, not time to get sad! How about us and Eric and Steven went to the waterfall?" Jackie quickly perked up, clapping her hands together. Donna was still a little melancholic and just gave her a small smile.

"That would be great. But let get some breakfast, yeah?" Donna needed time to get back on her feet after these two days. 

"You go on, I'll have to wake up Steven." She only nodded and headed upstairs. A few steps before entering the room, Jackie looked back at her. Donna gave her an honest smile. Jackie blinked a few times, seeming baffled by the reaction. And then Jackie's eyes disappeared with a bright smile and a giggle. Donna thought she would probably never, in her whole life, figure out, what Jackie's real thoughts were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry for the short chapter, but i'm trying to keep each chapter from a point of view, so... Anyway, hope everybody is enjoying this story. Thanks for the kudos and everything!


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